Montana Suit Seeks Adequate, Cost-Based School Funding Formula

On September 3, 2002, school districts, parents, and the Montana teacher's union filed suit against the state over its public school funding system, claiming that the system violates the constitutional requirement to provide a "basic system of free quality public elementary and secondary schools" because funding is inadequate. Plaintiffs, including Michael Nicosia, the superintendent of the Columbia Falls Public Schools, and his wife, who are also parents of two school-age children, are asking the state district court in Helena to declare the state's school-funding system unconstitutional and to order costing-out studies. Plaintiffs want these studies, which would determine the actual cost of providing an adequate education in Montana, to be used in developing a new funding system.

The Montana Quality Education Coalition, representing about 50 of Montana's 400 school districts, which enroll over half of the state's schoolchildren, is paying for the litigation. Earlier this year, the Coalition and four other statewide groups jointly sponsored a study of the public school funding system, which found that Montana schools would need up to $170 million to enable students to meet state and national standards. Nicosia said that without additional state funding, schools will be forced to cut even more teachers, classes, extracurricular programs, and building-maintenance projects than have already been cut in recent years. Plaintiffs worry that the state's 150,000 students will be unable to compete in the national job market.

Governor Judy Martz opposes the lawsuit. She does admit, however, that the current school funding system, which was adopted in 1993, at which point the previous school-funding lawsuit was declared moot, is not working very well, and that she would like to see some changes. She also said that the state faces a potential $250 million deficit next year. The Montana Rural Education Association, a plaintiff in the funding lawsuit that ended in 1993, also cited the budget shortfall. In a statement explaining why it has not joined the suit, the MREA suggested that the timing might not be right. "We would just really like to have the opportunity to work with the Legislature again in January and see what could be done for education," said Executive Director Dave Puyear. "We're not denying that there are problems."

Prepared September 5, 2002